Design architect/architect of record: Perkins&Will
Location: Toronto
Completion Date: May 2023
In May 2023, York University, on the outskirts of Toronto, unveiled the new School of Continuing Studies, its newest building. Designed by the local outpost of Perkins&Will, its pivoting form, clad in a diagrid of glass and brushed aluminum, adds a distinctive twisting presence to the campus.
The 120,000-square-foot structure rises five stories. Its contorted form results from a geometric design process that shifts a rectangular floor plate around a common centroid, introducing a two-wave curve across the north and south facades. The warping plane informed the overall facade geometry, which contains a floor plan composed of modular learning clusters, lecture halls, and wellness amenities.
“It was initially generated by developing a diagrid geometry to loft the north and south facades using a simple mass in Rhino,” Andrew Frontini, Perkins&Will principal & design director, told AN. “A Grasshopper script was used to optimize the triangular panel size to accommodate the necessary floor-to-floor datums as well as the manufacturing limitations of both the glass and metal components.”
